In 1976 I proudly cast my first presidential vote for Jimmy Carter.  I have voted for the Democratic nominee in every race since then and will proudly vote for Barack Obama’s reelection.  But it is my humble opinion that Rick Santorum will be the one that saves the United States from disaster.  No, I’m not drunk and I’m not high.  I beg your indulgence as I make my case.

Imagine for a moment that Rick Santorum had never entered the race.  It’s doubtful that any of the other un-Romneys would have taken his place.  Bachmann would have crashed and burned pretty much as she actually did.  Rick Perry would have been exposed for the imbecile that he is.  Herman Cain’s horndog past would have come up much as it did.   Newt Gingrich would have imploded with little more than a tap from Romney, who would have cruised to his nomination with nary a scar nor back-splattered with mud.  With the economy still not hitting on all cylinders, he would have had a fair chance of winning the presidency.  Even if Romney had lost a narrow election to Obama, Republicans would likely retain the House and quite likely take the Senate.  We would be in for at best four more years of gridlock and paralyzed government.  At worst, heaven help us, four years of complete Republican control.  A fifth or even sixth right-wing justice would be added to the Supreme Court.  Laws would be enacted to make voting even more difficult for minorities.  Social Security and Medicare would be on the chopping block.  Environmental regulations would be gutted.  Not only would abortion be outlawed, access to contraception would be in severe danger.  Gay rights and civil rights would be rolled back.  A national right to work law would be the death knell for the best friend the middle class ever had, organized labor.  In foreign policy, xenophobia would be the order of the day.  A war with Iran would be a virtual certainty.  Tin horn right wing dictators across the globe would have American permission to oppress their people.  The torture chambers in Gitmo would be working overtime.  The US would become the most hated nation on the planet.

So how will Rick Santorum save the US?  First of all, we must stipulate that Santorum is absolutely unelectable.  His degree of craziness can only be expressed in Palinesque terms.  Still, he has a marginal chance of winning the nomination, something that the other challengers, Gingrich and Paul, simply do not have.  A Santorum nomination would guarantee a Democratic landslide in November.  While Democrats would not get a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, the Speaker’s gavel would once again be in Nancy Pelosi’s hands.  Any Supreme Court vacancies would be filled by people who are not right wing zealots.  Solid Democratic majorities would prevent the draconian Republican agenda from proceeding.  But Santorum will probably not win the nomination.  Still, his candidacy has pushed Romney so far to the right that his nomination would be worthless.  The race to the far right on immigration has put the Hispanic vote out of play.  The fact that Santorum has even talked about his opposition to contraception has both awakened and alienated women voters, perhaps beyond anything Romney could do to get them back.  The Democratic base has been energized by Santorum’s rise in the polls.  The stakes of the election have been spelled out in no uncertain terms- without Santorum, the radical right wing agenda might have remained under the radar until it was too late.  If Santorum’s insanely radical agenda wasn’t enough, Romney’s scorched-earth campaigns against Gingrich and now Santorum have driven up his own negatives to levels that no nominee can have and be elected.  We can’t give Santorum all the credit:  the anti-labor agendas of Republican state governments in Michigan, Ohio, and especially Wisconsin have put the industrial states of the Big Ten solidly in the Democratic column.  The electoral map now has enough solid blue already colored in that only an unimaginable perfect storm of events could lead to a Romney victory.  Thanks to Santorum and others such as Scott Walker, the Republican tent has effectively banished all voters to the left of Genghis Khan.

So on January 20, 2013, when Barack Obama puts his hand on the Lincoln Bible and takes the oath for his second term, pause for a moment and give some credit to Rick Santorum for all that he has done to make Obama’s reelection virtually inevitable.